


Silence Speaks Volumes

by fortify_countrye



Series: The Silence Series [1]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 16:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5935677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortify_countrye/pseuds/fortify_countrye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taekwoon spends most of his time silent, speaking is just not his thing. Despite this Hakyeon can read him like a book. When Wonshik appears in their lives one night Hakyeon knows instantly what this could mean for his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beyond Just Shyness

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from AFF and finally edited (yay).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 30-08-2016 Update - Just minor editing and typo fixing. Mostly making the writing style more consistant with What Life Is in terms of how I describe stuff. Adding the day to the date-doodah.

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 2: Wednesday

Wonshik hesitates before entering the coffee shop. The sign on the door clearly says it closes at 10pm, but it’s ten past ten now and the lights are still on and it is absolutely pouring out here.

Feeling frozen and with a sigh he pushes the door open and enters. Chairs are on tables, half of the lights are off, and only one staff member is present in the room. Conscious that he is dripping water on the floor, and cringing because of it, Wonshik makes his way to the counter where the staff member is cleaning.

“Are you still open?”

The man behind the counter is only slightly shorter than Wonshik. He’s got really broad shoulders and long arms and his cheeks are adorably chubby. The half apron gives him away as an employee. He stares at Wonshik with wide eyes for several seconds before he goes back to cleaning the counter.

Wonshik frowns. Did he not hear? “Are you still serving?”

Once again the man doesn’t respond. Wonshik raises an eyebrow, pondering why the man behind the counter won’t talk back. Was he deaf? Surely not, someone who was deaf wouldn’t be placed in a position where they had to interact with customers, would they? Maybe he just wants Wonshik to go away so he can go home?

“Hello?”

The man looks up at Wonshik again. He looks uncomfortable. Wonshik considers just leaving but one glance out the window reveals that it is still pouring. It’s the middle of winter and they were experiencing a cold snap. It was negative three degrees outside when it would normally be sitting around zero at this time of night. Wonshik had already been caught outside once, hence his dripping wet state.

“Hi,” someone says.

Wonshik turns to see a man coming down the stairs from the top floor. Like the man behind the counter, this guy is only slightly shorter than Wonshik.

“Sorry, Woonie doesn’t talk to strangers,” he explains as he gets closer, looking Wonshik over. “Oh my, you are absolutely soaking, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yeah…” Wonshik mutters, suddenly unsure of why he’d come in here.

Wonshik is about to tell the new worker to forget it and just tough it through the rain and cold when the man grins. “Want to wait out the rain here? We’re staying until it stops anyway.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Wonshik sighs in relief.

“Cool, I’ll go grab you a towel from out back. Feel free to take a seat from a table.”

The man behind the counter, Woonie the other man had called him, is staring at him, but Wonshik pretends he doesn’t notice and takes down a chair to sit on. ‘Woonie’ blinks at Wonshik when their eyes meet and then quickly disappears out back. It doesn’t take long for the two workers to return.

“I’m Hakyeon, by the way,” the second man says when he hands Wonshik a towel.

“I’m Wonshik,” Wonshik introduces himself.

The man from behind the counter touches Hakyeon’s elbow briefly while staring intently at the floor. He looks even tenser than he did before.

“This is Taekwoon,” Hakyeon states with a smile. “He’s the barrister.”

Wonshik smiles at Taekwoon. “Nice to meet you.”

Taekwoon gives a tiny nod before going back behind the counter to resume cleaning. If asked, Wonshik would say that Taekwoon’s silence probably went beyond just shyness.

Hakyeon pulls up a chair across from Wonshik and sits with a sigh. “Ah, my feet.”

“Do you work all day?” Wonshik asks, trying not to feel awkward.

“I started at twelve today, so did Woonie,” Hakyeon supplies.

Wonshik’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s a long shift.”

Hakyeon shrugs with a smile. “We’ve got to work when we’ve got time. It’s not quite a double-shift so that’s nice.”

“Are you both students?” Wonshik questions.

“Yep, we’re both fourth years. I’m doing education and Woonie is doing graphic design.”

“Isn’t that a three year course?”

“Woonie stretched it out to four years.”

There’s an unspoken ‘so that he stays in the same year as me’ that Wonshik doesn’t point out. Were they a couple? They were obviously close.

“What about you? Are you a student?” Hakyeon asks, noting Wonshik’s bulging backpack.

“Yeah, I’m doing a Bachelor of Arts, second year.”

The normal reaction to hearing that he’s doing a BA is disbelief. Isn’t a BA a useless degree? Why would you spend three years doing a degree that gets you nothing in the end? He was kind of sick of it to be honest, and he still had a year and a half of hearing it.

Hakyeon doesn’t say any of that though, he just smiles. “I think we had a lecture together last year?”

“I don’t remember,” Wonshik smiles apologetically.

“I doubt you would, you slept through every single one.”

“Oh, the eight-thirty history lecture?” Wonshik asks. “Yeah, I don’t really like morning classes.”

Hakyeon laughs and motions towards Taekwoon. “I told Woonie about you after a month. He thought you would fail, how did you do?”

“All that matters is that I passed,” Wonshik chuckles.

He’d gotten a P, passing by two percent. He’d sworn to himself to never let it get that bad again. Since then he’d never gotten lower than a C, though he could probably bump it up a grade or two if he was good at exams.

Hakyeon is still laughing when he notices Wonshik shiver. “Are you cold? Do you want a coffee?”

“Sure,” Wonshik agrees.

“Woonie!”

Wonshik hadn’t even realised that Taekwoon wasn’t in the room anymore until then. Taekwoon appears within seconds, making Wonshik wonder if he’d just been standing out back.

“Can you make us some coffee out back?”

A small incline of his head is the only indication of compliance that Taekwoon gives before once again disappearing into the staff area. Hakyeon asks him several more question about uni before Taekwoon returns with three cups of coffee. He places them on the table and pulls up a chair next to Hakyeon.

“It’s good,” Wonshik says, surprised that such good coffee had come from ‘out back’ rather than from the big, expensive coffee machine.

Taekwoon looks away from them both and Hakyeon smirks. “He says ‘thanks’.”

The barrister’s head snaps around and he glares at Hakyeon. Slowly his gaze shifts over to Wonshik before he quickly goes back to looking out the window at the rain, a tiny blush on his cheeks.

Wonshik thinks Taekwoon is kind of cute, but he doesn’t say it from fear of making the other uncomfortable. Or more uncomfortable, whichever.

“It’s the same blend that we sell here, it’s just not made in the machine,” Hakyeon says, still smiling. “We’re technically not supposed to drink it, but we do anyway. Actually, we take some home sometimes too.”

Hakyeon and Wonshik continue to chat for the next forty minutes, waiting for the rain to stop. Taekwoon just sits with them, giving no sign that he was even listening to what they were saying, even though Hakyeon would ask him things now and then.

At five past eleven Taekwoon touches Hakyeon’s arm.

“Oh, it’s stopped raining!” the latter cries. “Thank god, I thought we’d be here all night.”

They all get to their feet and start putting the chairs up. “Do you live far?” the youngest asks.

“Not too far. We live about fifteen minutes from here towards the train station,” Hakyeon supplies as Taekwoon cleans up the cups. “You?”

“Twenty, towards the shopping centre.”

Wonshik can’t help thinking that they must be a couple if they live together and work together and deliberately spend longer at school because of each other.

“That’s not too bad.”

“Nah, it’s good.”

“I’m going to turn the alarm on, you two go outside,” Hakyeon tells them.

Taekwoon starts for the door and Wonshik follows closely. Taekwoon puts on a winter coat and grabs a raincoat from by the door as they go out. Wonshik assumes it must be Hakyeon’s but then he sees another winter coat hanging there.

A small noise somewhere between a scoff and a sound of surprise escapes Taekwoon’s lips as the icy air hits them. Wonshik on the other hand starts shivering instantly. The wind rips through his damp clothes, chilling his skin and making his teeth chatter.

He’s surprised when Taekwoon holds out the raincoat for him. Their eyes meet and to Wonshik’s disbelief Taekwoon holds his gaze.

“Is that alright?” Wonshik asks.

Taekwoon gives a short nod and holds the coat out further. Wonshik takes it, putting it on quickly. It’s a little big but the plastic stops the wind from reaching his skin and he feels a little warmer already.

“I’ll bring it back tomorrow?”

Another nod.

“Is eight-thirty okay? I have a class tomorrow night.”

Taekwoon nods again.

The door shutting pulls Wonshik’s attention away from the silent man and to Hakyeon. He’s donned in his own thick, winter coat and even has a scarf and gloves.

“Oh, you lent your coat to Wonshik?” He asks his co-worker. “That’s nice. Let’s get going before we freeze to death.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Taekwoon, when I bring the coat back, okay?” Wonshik asks as he starts walking. He knows that there is a shortcut through the park they will take.

He receives another tiny nod and finds that he’s content with that. A small smile crosses his face as he waves at the pair. “Thanks for letting me stay, bye.”

“Bye!” Hakyeon calls after him.

The pair watch the younger man go before heading down the path to the station.

“I told you he was bound to drop in one day,” Hakyeon said as they walked. “Eventually everybody that studies at the library comes here.”

Taekwoon ignores the comment.

“You must have been surprised when he came in like that. Is that why you didn’t come and get me? Because I’d recognise him?”

“Yes,” Taekwoon admits grudgingly.

He’s seen Wonshik at the library numerous times. He always wore headphones and kept a notebook with him that he often jotted things down in and he had a tendency to fall asleep. Hakyeon had thought the description had sounded familiar and after seeing a sketch that Taekwoon had done, had confirmed that they had been talking about the same kid from his eight-thirty lecture, ‘sleepy guy’.

“I wonder what’s in that book, maybe you’ll find out tomorrow,” Hakyeon sighs. “On your _date_.”

“It’s not a date,” Taekwoon snaps instantly. “He’s just giving back my coat.”

“Ah huh, sure,” Hakyeon says. “If he asks you to stay for coffee then it’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding the day to the date-doodah is a little unnecessary as I actually write what day it is in Part 1. However, I did it for consistency sake so it matches Parts 2 and 3.


	2. Words Are Unnecessary

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 3: Wednesday

Wonshik wakes up feeling strangely excited.

It was Wednesday, he had an eight-thirty French language class he needed to drag himself to, a lecture at one-thirty about politics, a class which he was certain he was going to fail, and he also had a music class that he went to that ran until eight-thirty at night. Despite this, he’s excited.

Groaning at the early hour, Wonshik drags himself out of bed and towards the shower.

It had taken him thirty minutes to walk home last night thanks to the wind and slippery ground, but he hadn’t frozen to death like he thought he would. Though that was probably because of the plastic raincoat which was now draped neatly over the back of his desk chair.

His thoughts kept jumping back to Taekwoon. He was undeniably cute and he seemed fairly generous. Wonshik wondered if he was just interested because Taekwoon didn’t talk, which made him a mystery. He really hoped not. Hakyeon was also interesting and Wonshik could see himself becoming friends with the other man if they ever spent time together.

At eight o’clock Wonshik pulls the front door shut. It’s raining but it’s okay because now he’s got a raincoat to keep him dry… Also he remembered his umbrella today.

 

One thing Wonshik loves about Wednesday’s is that he gets a shit-ton done. Because his schedule is so spread out over the day – something he’d dreaded at first – he spends a lot of time in the library between classes. He used to go home between classes but he never got any work done. Now he sits there with his headphones and the notebook he likes to write lyrics and raps in, surrounded by textbooks he doesn’t understand and his laptop.

Wonshik spends a little over four hours in the library on Wednesdays, only leaving to grab a bite to eat – if he didn’t bring his own food – before his stupid communications lecture at one-thirty. At four-thirty he has to start heading to his off-campus music class.

 

 When Wonshik’s music class ends twenty minutes early, he’s both relieved and annoyed. It will take him a maximum of five minutes to walk to the coffee shop from here and then he’ll have to wait for Taekwoon. Was Taekwoon working today? He hoped that was the case so that the older man didn’t need to go there just to meet Wonshik.

The coffee shop still has a fair few people present when he walks in the door. He knew a lot of people that preferred to study here than in the library, probably due to the easy access to coffee and greater chance of getting a table. Wonshik however had never set foot in the place until last night, something that had felt like an achievement but now felt like a failure. He could have met Taekwoon and Hakyeon last year if he’d not been stubborn and followed the crowd.

“Hey, Wonshikkie,” Hakyeon says from the counter, waving him over.

“Taekwoon isn’t working today?” Wonshik asks as he approaches, trying not to question the ‘Wonshikkie’.

“Nope,” Hakyeon smiles. “Go take a seat, he’ll be here soon.”

Wonshik sits in a quieter area near the window. He pulls his notebook from his bag and starts to play around with the lyrics he’d written in the library today. Most of his songs amounted to nothing, but every now and then he’d write something and just feel with everything inside himself that _this_ was the song that would get him into music. It never did, however.

When Wonshik glances up and sees Taekwoon entering the coffee shop, his heart clenches a little. Taekwoon’s hair is windblown and a little all over the place and his cheeks are a little pink from the cold. When he spots Wonshik staring at him his teeth move to worry his lip and he starts his way over.

“Hi,” Wonshik greets when he’s close enough. “Sorry I made you come all this way just to get your coat.”

Taekwoon shakes his head, pointing towards Hakyeon.

“You came for Hakyeon?”

The silent man nods and sits down.

“To pick him up?”

Another nod.

 _Definitely a couple_ , Wonshik thinks to himself, not understanding why the realisation was so disappointing.

“Do you have a lot of classes on Wednesday?” Wonshik asks.

Taekwoon answers by holding up three fingers.

“Tutorials?”

Two fingers.

“That must be so boring,” Wonshik groans in pity. He despises tutorials. They’re two hours long and he never has anything to say in them, half because he doesn’t understand the topic enough to feel like his opinions should be voiced, and half because he really had no interest in his subjects.

The small huff of amusement that Taekwoon emits – much to his own surprise – has Wonshik smiling.

“Were they at least close together?”

Taekwoon shakes his head. He holds up three fingers again and Wonshik takes a shot in the dark.

“Three hours between?”

A nod.

“Mine too,” Wonshik laughs. “Do you study in between?”

Another nod.

“Here?”

Taekwoon shakes his head.

“The library?”

A nod.

“Me too! I spent so long there today.”

Taekwoon nods again and Wonshik has to take a guess.

“You know? That I was there?”

A nod.

“Hmm,” Wonshik thinks. “Did you see me while you were there?”

Nod.

“I didn’t see you at all!” Wonshik exclaims. “Next time I’ll definitely come sit with you!”

Taekwoon feels his cheeks heat a little. Nobody – besides Hakyeon and their few friends – had ever willingly sat with him before, well one person had but that hadn’t ended well. He must be such a burden to have to sit with. It had also been a long while since he’d had someone talk to him like this, like it was completely normal that he wasn’t speaking.

Taekwoon smiles a little to show that he appreciates Wonshik’s comment before he points to the notebook.

“This?” Wonshik asks, this time it’s his turn to go red. He wants to say that it’s nothing, suddenly feeling embarrassed about his attempts to enter the music industry, but he doesn’t want Taekwoon to think that he’s being a nuisance by asking.

“I write lyrics and raps and stuff,” he says lamely.

The hand Taekwoon had on the table turns over and Wonshik knows he’s more asking for permission than demanding it.

“Sure,” he sighs anyway.

Taekwoon slowly picks up the notebook, giving Wonshik a chance to change his mind if he wants, and starts reading. He sits there for several minutes just reading, imagining the melodies and tunes in his head for each song.

He opens his mouth to speak but remembers where they are, glancing nervously around the room and letting the words die on his lips. He settles with a thumbs up instead. _You’re really good._

Wonshik sees the tiny struggle and feels his heart squeeze. Would Taekwoon have spoken if they’d been alone? Did he feel comfortable enough with Wonshik to speak now? After only meeting twice? Surely not.

He smiles a little. “Thanks. I’m trying to get into music, but no luck yet.”

Another thumbs up. _Good luck._

“Thanks,” Wonshik says again, smile morphing into something much bigger.

 


	3. Old and New

New –

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 3: Wednesday

Wonshik continues the one-sided conversation, doing surprisingly well with guessing what Taekwoon was trying to say with nods or gestures. At nine o’clock Hakyeon appears at Taekwoon’s side.

“How are you doing, Woonie?” he asks tiredly.

Taekwoon looks up at his friend with a smile.

“That good, huh? Lucky you.”

Wonshik feels a little lost at their conversation. Was he missing something?

“Do you want to come over so you can keep talking?” Hakyeon asks Wonshik.

Wonshik looks at him in surprise but smiles apologetically. “I would really like to, but my first class was at eight-thirty this morning.”

“That’s okay,” Hakyeon smiles back. “Right, Woonie?”

Taekwoon nods, handing Wonshik his notebook. Wonshik slips it back into his bag and stands up at the same time as Taekwoon.

“Oh, your coat!” Wonshik cries when he sees it on the back of his chair. “I totally forgot.”

He hands it back to Taekwoon with an embarrassed smile. He’d been more interested in meeting and talking to the other man again that he’d completely forgotten the purpose of this meeting.

Taekwoon smiles his thanks and Hakyeon beams at them. “Shall we go, Woonie? I’m starving.”

Taekwoon nods and waves at Wonshik.

“Bye,” Hakyeon and Wonshik say to each other.

“Shit, I forgot my drink bottle,” Hakyeon mutters suddenly. “I’ll just be a second, Woon, stay here.”

Taekwoon nods and Hakyeon races away.

“I should go,” Wonshik says. “I like hanging out with you and Hakyeon. I’ll definitely sit with you next time at the library, okay?”

Taekwoon nods once again and gives a small smile that makes Wonshik beam.

“Bye.”

He watches the younger man leave, slowly donning his coat. Hakyeon nudges him in the ribs when they get outside. “You know you’re smiling, right?”

“No I’m not,” Taekwoon denies, cheeks colouring again.

“Ah huh, sure,” his friend teases, drawing out the last syllable. “Did you find out what was in the book?”

“He writes songs.”

“For fun?”

“He wants to be a rapper.”

“Ooh, that’s so cool!” Hakyeon crows.

Taekwoon doesn’t say it out loud, but he thinks it’s pretty cool too. Besides Jaehwan he’s never met anybody who wanted to be involved in music. Admittedly Jaehwan’s focus is on musical theatre, but he was also going to commit his life to music either way.

Hakyeon is complaining about a particularly rude customer but Taekwoon isn’t listening. He’s thinking about Wonshik and his raps and how he’d been embarrassed to admit it, like people had given him a hard time about it.

 

 

Old –

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 4: Tuesday

“Hongbin, I’m a little worried about you,” Wonshik says after seeing his friend in person for the first time in a month. They’d found time to meet up between classes due to a room change that put Wonshik on the opposite side of the school than where he’d normally be, allowing them to snag an hour of each other’s time for lunch.

It was Tuesday, meaning that it had been exactly a week since he’d first met Taekwoon and Hakyeon. Since returning Taekwoon’s coat he hadn’t had a chance to see the two of them, thanks to a particularly nasty stomach bug that had had him in bed from Thursday until Sunday. Hongbin had been kind enough to point out how ‘horrible’ he looked.

“Why’s that?” Hongbin asks with a yawn. In front of him is a container, which had held a single cheese sandwich, and a metal water bottle. He’s going through the photos on his camera and deleting the really bad ones, other’s will have to wait until he’s at home with his computer since his laptop broke a month ago and he couldn’t afford to fix it.

Wonshik looks at Hongbin, who has been his friend for almost six years, and notes the dark circles under his eyes and the way his once styled hair is shaggy and unkempt. But the thing that Wonshik found most alarming was how much weight the other man had lost.

“I just think you’ve been overworking yourself for too long, that’s all,” Wonshik says, withholding any comments about Hongbin’s weight in case it was taken the wrong way or there was a more serious cause.

“I have to work to eat, Wonshik,” Hongbin states. “I have rent to pay and bills and travel expenses to work and school. My parents don’t pay for everything like yours do, you know that.”

Wonshik couldn’t, and wouldn’t, deny that his parents paid for his rent and living expenses. They were well off business owners and had been the ones to suggest the arrangement so that he could focus on his studies and dream. He knew he was privileged relative to how a lot of other students lived.

Unlike Hongbin he lived within walking distance to both the university _and_ the shopping centre where Hongbin – and every other university student in the retail industry – worked. An idea Wonshik couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of earlier popped into his head.

“Do you want to move in with me?” he asks.

He’d always intended to find a roommate but hadn’t had the time or the need to, nor had his parents pestered him about it. As a result, after a year and a half of living there, the spare room sat empty and probably in desperate need of a clean.

Wonshik took out his phone and quickly texted his mother, telling her of the situation.

“What?” Hongbin asks, looking incredulous.

“I have a spare room. Besides I live ten minutes away from where you work.”

Wonshik worked there too, but only as a casual during semester breaks and holiday season. He really only had the job because he didn’t want to ask his parents to pay for his music classes and clothes.

“When are you due to renew your lease?”

“In less than a month, actually,” Hongbin says thoughtfully. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?”

“Nah, its fine. My parents will probably be happy. You know they love you.”

Going by the text he’d just gotten, his parents were _very_ happy.

“How much is the rent?”

“In total it’s four hundred and ten a week.”

Hongbin blanches. “That’s so much money!”

“You won’t even have to pay half,” Wonshik stated, trying not to be amused. “How much do you pay?”

“One hundred and eighty…plus bills.”

“Living with me would cost you less, and you’d save time getting to work and uni.”

Hongbin bit his lip thoughtfully. “Are you sure you don’t need that room?”

“It’s seriously empty right now.”

“Then if it’s okay with your parents I’ll move in.”

Wonshik’s phone buzzed again and he chuckled when he saw it, holding it up for Hongbin to see.

“Mum says you can just pay one hundred a week and not worry about bills.”

Hongbin seriously looked like he would cry, but he didn’t to Wonshik’s relief. “Your parents are so nice.”

“I know.”

His mum and step-dad were completely supportive of him trying to get into the music industry, though they weren’t happy that he had chosen to do a BA instead of something he could fall back on, like business.

Hongbin notices the time then and shoots to his feet. “Shit, I’m going to be late.”

He shoves his containers into his bag and gathers up his camera.

“I’ll text you more about this later,” Wonshik tells him. “I have class too.”

Unlike Hongbin, Wonshik was completely okay with being late to a lecture.

“Cool,” Hongbin calls. “And thanks.”

“No problem,” Wonshik calls back.


	4. A Repeated Upheaval

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it is Wednesday again…

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 4: Wednesday+Thursday

When he gets an email saying that his one-thirty communications lecture is cancelled for this week Wonshik groans. He’d had questions about the assignment he wanted to ask the lecturer in person but now he’d have to settle with email since the deadline was so close.

He goes to his French class – the only class he’s doing well in – and spends the whole time debating on whether or not to go to the library. If he does go he’ll be productive and get shit done. But he also has a lot of things at home he needs to do, like laundry and cleaning the room for Hongbin and grocery shopping.

In the end he chooses to get his chores done– he’s definitely _not_ procrastinating, thank you very much – and then do work at home. It feels weird to break routine and not spend all day in the library, but he’s glad he won’t have to buy lunch again since the food at uni is so expensive.

After sending an email to his lecturer explaining his troubles Wonshik gets to cleaning Hongbin’s room. He opens the window to air it out, dusts and wipes every surface, kills – throws a shoe at from a distance – a weirdly huge daddy long-legs in the cupboard, and then vacuums. Finally, when he’s satisfied that the room can be lived in, he moves on to the next task.

Wonshik runs to the shop to buy food. He’s pretty good at eating cheap and healthy, having a general dislike for foods that are dripping in oil, and his groceries this week are especially healthy since he’d been sick.

Hongbin was moving in this weekend so he bought extra food, determined to get some weight back onto his friend’s tall frame. On Friday morning he’d be over at Hongbin’s house to help him move.

When he gets home and sees that his lecturer has replied he’s relieved. _After_ reading the email, however, he’s pissed.

_Wonshik, I feel like I could better explain this to you in person as it looks like you really don’t understand what the topic is about. Please feel free to come to my office any time today._

With one question directed towards the universe in general, and another directed towards the cancellation of the lecture, Wonshik heads back to the university.

Wonshik’s communications lecturer is a tall, thin, middle-aged man who dresses like a fifteen-year-old, introduces himself as Davey and _always_ insists on handshakes. As soon as Wonshik sees him he knows why the lecture was cancelled, he also regrets entering the room.

“I’ve got a bit of a stomach bug,” Davey explains unnecessarily when he sees Wonshik. “So I cancelled the lecture.”

Wonshik bites back a comment saying that he shouldn’t be at university at all and instead sits down because he _needs_ to get a good mark on this assignment.

Forty minutes later Wonshik gets to leave, but not before being forced to shake Davey’s hand. He’ll admit that he now knows _exactly_ what he needs to write about for the assignment, he won’t admit to it possibly being worth a repeat of last weekend.

Wonshik showers as soon as he gets home. He hates it when people who are sick insist on working, risking the health of other people in the process.

After his shower he sits at his laptop for the rest of the afternoon and gets nearly the whole communications assignment finished. He just needs to find some quotes in the week’s readings but he can do that tomorrow.

Wonshik cooks himself dinner and then heads to his music class.

 

Wonshik spends the next morning cursing Davey’s existence into the toilet bowl. An email announcing the cancellation of his nine-thirty communications tutorial doesn’t help Wonshik feel better about the condition he’s going to be in tomorrow.

When his stomach settles a little in the afternoon he pulls on some tracksuit pants and his jacket and makes his way to the nearby medical centre. He can’t get away with missing any more classes without a medical certificate and reverts to cursing out Davey while he sits there waiting for a doctor for more than an hour, stomach churning and teeth clenched.

“Kim Wonshik?” a voice calls.

He makes his way into the office and sits in the chair. The doctor is one he’s had before, he never prescribes anything but he does give out medical certificates for anything and everything.

“What seems to be the problem?” the doctor asks.

“I’ve got a stomach bug and I need a medical certificate,” Wonshik supplies quickly, desperate to leave.

“Alright…”

The doctor looks him over while taking out a certificate. “Have you only been sick for today?”

“I had a bug last week too,” Wonshik says. Maybe if he admits to that he’ll be given something to settle his stomach.

“I’m not going to give you anything today. However, if you’re still throwing up on Saturday you should come back in.”

Wonshik cries internally at the thought of still being sick on Saturday…again. He then considers going to a second doctor, but the next closest to his house is the university doctor, which requires an appointment and would also mean walking for more than twenty minutes.

The doctor hands Wonshik the medical certificate. “Once you get over this you should start taking probiotics, it’ll strengthen your digestive system and make it harder for you to catch stomach bugs in the future.”

Wonshik is dismissed after that. He _will_ probably start taking probiotics, just because he keep getting sick like this. After a side trip to the bathroom to once again puke his guts out, he makes his way home.

 

Wonshik manages to finish his communications assignment and do his day’s worth of French practice before falling into bed and accepting his fate. At ten o’clock when he feels no better he calls Hongbin.

“What’s up Wonshik?” Hongbin answers. “I’m at work now so you need to be quick.”

Wonshik wants to ask why Hongbin is still at work at the shopping centre so late at night but instead he gets straight to the point. “I can’t help you move tomorrow, I’m sick.”

“ _Again_?” Hongbin asks. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s a stomach bug though so you shouldn’t come near me. I’ll open the door in the morning and you can just let yourself in an out. Don’t come in my room. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Wonshik. It’s not like you chose to get sick. I’ll find someone else to help me. I’ve borrowed my friend’s car so I don’t think it will be too much work.”

“Thanks, Hongbin,” Wonshik sighs.

“No worries. You need to start taking better care of yourself. Just make sure you get better.”

“Sure.”


	5. Packed and Ready

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 4: Friday

“Sorry for asking you to help me, Hakyeon,” Hongbin says as the older man enters his apartment.

“It’s fine, I don’t have any classes this morning.”

Hongbin knows that they won’t be able to pack and move all of his stuff in only the few hours available to them this morning. He doesn’t point it out though, so that Hakyeon doesn’t feel obligated to help again tomorrow.

Hongbin had done his best to pack in the last week, but between being a full time university student and working two jobs he hadn’t really had the time or energy. The most he’d done was put all of his shoes into boxes.

“Do you want me to pack up your lounge room?” Hakyeon asks.

“Sure. The couch, armchair and dining table have all been sold, they’re getting picked up tomorrow so just leave them.”

“No worries.”

Hongbin doesn’t really have much stuff. What he does have is all from when he was living with his parents and they would buy him things. His rather large DVD and CD collections are proof of that since he hadn’t bought anything for them since moving out.

Hakyeon starts putting DVDs in a box and Hongbin returns to packing his clothes. The older man sings under his breath as he does, genuinely enjoying himself. He liked simple tasks like this because his mind could wander while his hands worked. It was the same reason he liked to work the closing shift at the coffee shop.

Three hours later and they had pretty much packed everything and had caught up with each other’s lives. Hongbin hoped that this move would allow him to have a social life again, he’d barely hung out with friends all year with the exception of Hakyeon and Taekwoon with their group and Wonshik. And even then he’d mostly texted them for the last few weeks.

Just Hongbin’s bed, desk and kitchen needed packing now since he was still staying here tonight and the trailer he’d hired was for tomorrow.

They load the car up best they can with boxes but they only get four boxes in the backseat and two in the itty-bitty boot. It’s all clothes. Hongbin makes sure he has his camera and books for class and they set off.

“How’s Taekwoon doing? I haven’t seen him for a while,” Hongbin questions as they set off.

Hongbin had met Taekwoon in a class they had together first semester last year when they’d been paired for an assignment. At first Hongbin had thought that Taekwoon was a complete and total snob, but then Hakyeon had shown up like a miracle and he’d realised he was wrong.

Hongbin had become friends with Hakyeon very quickly and by extension, had become friends with Taekwoon. Despite knowing each other for more than a year and a half now, Taekwoon still occasionally refused to talk around Hongbin. Though Hongbin took comfort in knowing that sometimes he also didn’t talk to Hakyeon.

The smirk on Hakyeon’s face is the same as the smirk a mother would have when bragging that her daughter was dating a doctor. “He’s got a crush,” he says.

Hongbin almost swerves off the road. “ _Taekwoon_ has a crush?” He cries.

Hakyeon waggles his eyebrows. “Yep.”

“ _Taekwoon_?!”

“I _know_ ,” Hakyeon crows. “I was surprised too.”

They stop at a set of lights and Hongbin takes the chance to look over at the older man to see if he’s lying. Hakyeon meets his gaze steadily.

“Has Taekwoon ever shown interest in…” Hongbin decides to filter his words, “another person before?”

Hakyeon grins. “Nope. Not ever. At least not in this way.”

It kind of blows Hongbin’s mind. “Wow.”

“I know,” Hakyeon says again. “Woonie’s a little sad right now though, hasn’t seen his crush at uni for more than a week.”

“How did Taekwoon meet them?”

Hakyeon smirked again. “Saw him at the library every week. Then Tuesday night last week when we were closing up the shop he came in, absolutely soaking wet.”

“Did Taekwoon talk to him?”

“Of course not. But the next day this guy had a proper conversation with Taekwoon.”

“With Taekwoon talking?”

“He used gestures and stuff.”

Hongbin scowls. Taekwoon hadn’t used gestures to talk to him for nearly two months. It had been another two before he’d said an actual word in front of Hongbin.

Hakyeon smiles at the younger man. “Don’t be bitter.”

“I’m _not_ ,” Hongbin denies.

“Baby,” Hakyeon laughs.

“Shut up,” Hongbin shoots back, but he quickly breaks into a smile.

 

Fifteen minutes later they pull up outside Hongbin’s new place – a four story apartment building that couldn’t be more than five years old – and grab a box each.

“Do you have a key?” Hakyeon asks when they get up the third flight of stairs.

“Nope, he said he’d leave the door open.”

True to his word Wonshik had left the door open. The two men push inside, panting a little under the weight of the boxes which had gotten heavier on the climb up.

“This is going to be exhausting,” Hakyeon notes, thinking about all the boxes Hongbin still had at home.

Hongbin nods in agreement. “I’m glad I called work and told them I couldn’t come in tonight.”

“Is that alright? I thought you worked every night so you could pay for everything?”

Hakyeon had been the first person to scold Hongbin for working so much, but he’d accepted that Hongbin was only doing what he had to, even if he was worried about the other’s health.

“I don’t have to pay much rent now, so I won’t have to work so much before I can fix my laptop.”

Hakyeon is genuinely relieved. While he and Taekwoon did pay their own way, they had a fairly convenient if somewhat old apartment and only needed to work one job each to cover the rent.

“That’s good. This place must cost a lot though so your roommate is pretty generous.”

“His parents pay for it,” Hongbin grins. “I’ve known them for a few years now so I think that’s why they’re letting me stay here for so cheap.”

They start heading back towards the door.

“Where _is_ your roommate? I thought he was going to help.”

“He’s sick, some kind of stomach bug. Actually I should check on him, you go get started on another box, I’ll be there in a second.”

“Got it.”

Hakyeon heads out to the car and Hongbin knocks on Wonshik’s door. “Wonshik, you alive?”

“Yeah,” a coarse voice calls back.

“Still sick?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Do you want us to be quiet so you can sleep?”

“That would actually be really great,” Wonshik admits. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Hongbin replies. “We’ll just bring in the boxes we have and then go. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“Cool.”

 

“How is he?” Hakyeon asks when Hongbin gets to the car.

“He sounds horrible. He was sick with a stomach thing last week too.”

“That’s awful. I hope you don’t get it.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine,” Hongbin waves it off.

He’s had a stomach bug only once in his life and he would like it to stay that way, thank you very much.

They get the rest of the boxes moved in record time. It feels like they’d been working out, what with all the stairs they’ve been up and down. It was only three trips but by the last one it felt like the eighth floor instead of the fourth, why isn’t there an elevator?

“Ah, I’m starving,” Hongbin groans as he puts down his last box. He doesn’t want to cook here and wake Wonshik though. “Want to grab something to eat before class?”

“Sure, I’ve got an hour and a half.”

“Me too, let’s check out the area.”

The pair settle on a cheap but popular looking Chinese restaurant. They order simple foods that arrive surprisingly fast and start eating.

“Do you want us to come help tomorrow?” Hakyeon asks as they leave the restaurant. He’s decided to walk home from here to get his bag and then make his way to the uni, since he has some extra time.

Hongbin smiles reluctantly. “I don’t want you to go out of your way to help.”

“We’re offering. Besides Taekwoon wanted to help out today but he had class.”

“If you’re offering then it’d be a big help.”

“No problem. What time do you want us over?”

“I don’t want to wake up my roommate too early since he’s sick, so around nine-thirty? I’m picking the trailer up from the rental place at nine so we can just load it up.”

“Think everything can fit in one trip?”

“I think so.”

“What about your bed and desk?”

“The guy who bought the couch and shit agreed to drop it off for me, he’s got a moving truck. The desk will fit on the trailer probably.”

“Awesome,” Hakyeon nods. “See you tomorrow, then.”

“Sure. Thanks for your help.”

“No worries.”

Hongbin waves Hakyeon off and then climbs into the car with a groan. “Now for class.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think Wonshik and Hakyeon are vague with the whole ‘roommate’ and ‘he’ thing, it’s actually very much how my friends and I talk about our other friends and family and roommates. I live with 11 other people and we never refer to our friends from other groups by name. It’s kind of carried over into how I think people would refer to those around them, that’s why to me it makes sense that Hongbin has never mentioned Wonshik to H&T before and vice versa.


	6. Ow, Says Hakyeon

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 4: Saturday

Taekwoon and Hakyeon are pretty much on time to Hongbin’s apartment. They were as on time as the public transport here allowed anyway. Overnight Hongbin had packed his kitchen up – most of which would be put into storage at Wonshik’s – and his bed stood ready to be taken away with the couch.

“Hey Hakyeon, Taekwoon,” Hongbin greets as he lets them in.

“Hey,” Hakyeon returns and Taekwoon just nods.

Hongbin has known Taekwoon long enough by now to know that some days were not speaking days for some people. On the really bad days not even Hakyeon got a word. The first time it had happened to Hongbin he’d been incredibly offended.

They load up the trailer as quickly as they can, relieved that it all fits around the desk. The sky is threatening to rain and Hongbin curses himself for not also renting a tarp from the trailer place.

The guy with the moving truck shows up quickly. He thanks Hongbin for the bargain and Hongbin thanks him for offering to move his bed.

The couch is ridiculously difficult to get out the front door and down the stairs. All four men are panting by the time they get it on the truck.

“Good luck with it,” Hakyeon puffs to the man.

“Thanks, but luckily it’s going in the garage.”

The rest of the furniture is lighter, but also hard to get out the door. Especially the dining table which Hongbin had actually _built inside_ the apartment.

Eventually though, everything is in the truck and they start their journey to Hongbin’s new place. Taekwoon sits in the front seat, not caring that Hakyeon is chatting consistently in his ear the whole time.

They move the bed up to the apartment first so that the man can be on his way. The base is relatively easy to get up the stairs because it’s light. The mattress is a different story.

“You don’t have dead bodies hidden in this thing, do you?” the man asks.

Hongbin laughs and denies it.

They stop to have a break on the third floor, groaning that there were another two flights of stairs to go. After much effort, and no small amount of swearing when Hakyeon dropped his corner, they get it into the apartment.

“Ugh,” Hakyeon groans into the mattress after they drop it to the floor.

“Agreed,” Hongbin sighs. He turns to the man. “Thanks for all your help.”

“It’s no problem. Good luck with uni.”

“Thanks.”

The man leaves and Taekwoon pulls Hakyeon to his feet.

“Alright, let’s get the rest of the stuff up here,” Hakyeon agrees.

The pair goes out and Hongbin starts moving his bed into his room. He’s heaving the mattress onto the base when Wonshik appears with a box of clothes.

“Oh, you’re up,” Hongbin notes in surprise.

“Yep, I’m mobile now.”

“Cool, can you start putting my clothes away? I don’t think you should be carrying things up and down the stairs.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Wonshik gets to work putting away the boxes of clothes that Hongbin brings in before going down to the car. He scowls at two t-shirts he hasn’t seen for two years. Drunk Hongbin had never returned them.

 

“Is your roommate better today?” Hakyeon asks.

“He’s walking around and stuff without spewing his guts all over the floor, so that’s an improvement.”

Hakyeon laughs. “Poor guy.”

“I’ll introduce you when we get up there.”

They grab boxes and head up, following Taekwoon who is focused on the job.

Hongbin is incredibly glad that the building only has four floors. He had been here before but had never felt inconvenienced by the stairs until now... and technically yesterday.

“Wonshik!” Hongbin calls as they enter the apartment.

“Wonshik?” Hakyeon echoes.

Taekwoon’s eyes snap up from the ground in surprise.

Wonshik finishes hanging the shirt he was up to and then heads out to the lounge room. His eyes are quickly drawn to the two men just behind Hongbin.

“No way,” Wonshik mutters. “You’re friends with these guys, Hongbin?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know you knew them!”

Hakyeon grins, nudging Hongbin with his elbow and waggles his eyebrows. “ _He’s_ library guy.”

Taekwoon’s arm shoots out at a surprising speed and whacks Hakyeon in the stomach in protest. He then stares at the floor while Hongbin laughs.

“Ow,” Hakyeon wheezes.

Wonshik feels like he’s missed a number of conversations and chooses to move on. “Let’s get the rest of Hongbin’s shit in before it rains,” he suggests.

The other three nod and head back out to the car and Wonshik returns to putting away Hongbin’s clothes. When they come up with the last of the boxes he emerges from the bedroom.

“You look awful, Wonshikkie,” Hakyeon says when he sees Wonshik again.

“I’ve been sick,” Wonshik states blankly with an eye-roll.

He knows he looks awful. He’s lost a fair bit of weight and in general just looks like someone who has been sick for a while.

“Have you eaten?” the eldest asks.

Hongbin groans. “Don’t mother him, Hakyeon.”

“You should take better care of him,” Hakyeon retorts, flicking the other in the forehead.

Taekwoon’s hand briefly touches Hakyeon’s arm and Hakyeon holds back a smile. “Woonie will cook for you. He makes the best broth ever.”

Wonshik feels his lips begin to curl into a smile. “Alright. That would be great, Taekwoon. You can use anything in the kitchen. There’s also some meat in the fridge that needs to be used so you can cook that if you want.”

Taekwoon nods and gets to work.

“While he does that, let’s put away Hongbin’s stuff,” Hakyeon says.

“You mean his ridiculous amount of shit?” Wonshik asks, opening up a box that has bits and bobs in it.

“Hey,” Hongbin protests. “Those are for my photography.”

“ _How?_ ” Wonshik demands, holding up a fake dog poop.

“It…just…is…”

 

They spend the next hour and a half working on emptying the boxes. Taekwoon gets the food cooking and joins them. The four of them get through a large number of the boxes, one of which Hongbin hides away, blushing and muttering about it being ‘private’.

Wonshik and Hakyeon exchange looks, lips locked in place to prevent their laughter from escaping. Taekwoon disappears from the room entirely. Wonshik thinks he’s left to laugh in private but he returns within a minute, touching Hakyeon’s arm.

“Oh, lunch is ready? Awesome, let’s eat.”

Taekwoon serves up the food quickly. He’d cooked rice and stir-fried meat and vegetables as well as making the broth. Wonshik is glad the meat is being eaten, it was supposed to be last night’s dinner. They sit down at Wonshik’s oversized table and help themselves.

“Wow,” Wonshik says after a sip. “This is really good Taekwoon.”

Taekwoon nods his thanks and Hakyeon pats him on the arm.

“Woonie does all our cooking since I’ve been banned from the kitchen,” the eldest explains. “His baking is to die for too.”

Hongbin nods his agreement and gives the silent man a thumbs up.

“You have to make my birthday cake again this year.”

Taekwoon nods in agreement, pushing the stir-fry towards the other man, probably in an attempt to shut him up. That or he agreed that Hongbin needed to eat more.

“When’s your birthday, Wonshikkie?” Hakyeon asks, watching Taekwoon pile food onto Hongbin’s plate.

“February,” he answers simply, drinking his broth.

His stomach accepts it with minimal churning. He reminds himself not to drink too fast.

“Ah, we’ll celebrate it with you next year then. You’ll be twenty, right?”

“Twenty one,” Wonshik corrects.

“I thought you were younger than Hongbin,” Hakyeon apologises.

“Eight months older,” Wonshik explains.

“He used to drive us around in year twelve.”

“Not that you ever paid for petrol.”

Hongbin grins. “Sorry.”

Hakyeon laughs. “I drove Woonie around for the last half of year twelve too. _And_ whenever we go home now.”

Taekwoon kicks him under the table in protest.

“Ow,” Hakyeon mutters. “If you got your licence you could drive yourself around.”

Another kick and a glare. Hakyeon simply grins at his friend.

They continue eating and chatting about high school. Wonshik learns that Hakyeon and Taekwoon had known each other since three year old kindergarten and been in the same grade every year since then. Taekwoon and Hakyeon learn that Wonshik and Hongbin have been friends since the beginning of year nine when Hongbin had transferred schools.

After lunch they finish putting all of Hongbin’s stuff away and all help with cleaning up the kitchen. Hakyeon stretches and yawns, looking at the time on his phone.

“We have to go to work, Woonie,” he says.

Taekwoon nods.

“Do you want a ride? I have to drop the trailer and car off,” Hongbin offers.

“Sounds good, thanks.”

“See ya, Hakyeon,” Wonshik says with a wave.

The gentle brush of cold fingers across his arm has Wonshik holding back a full on grin and willing his heart to behave. Hakyeon pretends he doesn’t see the contact and Hongbin actually didn’t.

Wonshik smiles at Taekwoon, “Bye, Taekwoon. I’ll see you during the week.”

Taekwoon’s lips twitch but he doesn’t smile. Instead he nods and starts for the door. Hakyeon meets Hongbin’s eyes during the exchange and waggles his eyebrows.

“Would you stop doing that?” Hongbin asks. “It’s creepy. Anyway, let’s get going.”

“See you later,” Wonshik says, catching only the end of what Hongbin says.

“Yeah.”

“Come see us at the coffee shop,” Hakyeon calls as he leaves. “We work every Tuesday.”

There’s a dull thud when they get out the door. “Ow!” Hakyeon cries.

 

**BONUS:**

"Ah!" Hongbin cries, sprinting across the room. "Don't touch that box!"

Hongbin takes the box from Hakyeon and starts for his room.

"Why?" Hakyeon teases, giving Hongbin a perverted grin. "What have you got in there?"

"N-nothing! It's just private!"

Taekwoon goes into the kitchen and stirs the broth. 

 _Private_? What  _did_ Hongbin have in there? A scoff escapes Taekwoon's lips at the thought.


	7. Day of Seething

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say that I don’t think people would do this in real life. Any meanness or bullying in this fic is exaggerated, as are some (all) reactions to things (I’m looking at you, Hakyeon).

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 5: Wednesday

Wonshik doesn’t manage to get to the coffee shop on Tuesday night thanks to an assignment he’d forgotten about. He does however return to his normal routine and spend Wednesday in the library. In the morning Taekwoon isn’t there, but he is in the afternoon.

The situation Wonshik finds Taekwoon in is one that makes his blood boil. The silent man is sitting calmly in his chair, one leg crossed over the other and hands resting on his lap. A group of four men stand around him. The leader of the group is blonde and standing _way_ too close to Taekwoon to not be intimidating him. That’s just something Wonshik doesn’t tolerate.

Wonshik catches several words that are said to Taekwoon and feels his anger spike. How were people sitting around listening to this? Before the men can say another word Wonshik is walking towards them.

“Oi,” Wonshik calls, dropping his bag as he approaches. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

The four men turn to look at Wonshik – as does everybody else in the library – and one swears under his breath after recognising Wonshik. Wonshik recognises him too. He was someone Wonshik had had a number of disagreements with throughout high school even though he was a year older.

“We should go,” the guy says. “I went to school with him, he once put an older kid in the hospital.”

It wasn’t like he’d beaten up some random guy. When he was in year ten, a guy who was in year twelve was dating his younger sister. He’d tried to get fresh with her even after she said no. Wonshik had broken his hand on the other guy’s face and earned a rather bad reputation with the other students and the teachers, not that he’d had a great reputation to begin with.

“Whatever, this wasn’t worth our time anyway,” the leader of the group mutters, stalking towards the door. The others follow and Wonshik turns to Taekwoon.

“And what are _you_ doing?!” he asks. “If someone tries to intimidate like that you punch them in the face! Don’t let people push you around!

Wonshik is still seething when he sits down across from Taekwoon, letting his head drop onto the table between his arms. After several minutes of silence the library returns to the soft hum it normally has. Mostly Wonshik is angry that nobody around Taekwoon had tried to help. He liked to think that if someone was in trouble other people would do their best to help out, but that was obviously untrue. He’s also annoyed that Taekwoon just sat there and took it.

When is seems like Wonshik has calmed down a little Taekwoon slowly reaches out and trails his fingers down his arm. At first Wonshik doesn’t react but he finally looks up at the older man.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you,” he apologises.

Taekwoon’s fingers run down Wonshik’s forearm again. Wonshik doesn’t even realise that he’s copied the gesture on Taekwoon’s arm until he looks at his face and sees a blush. Wonshik withdraws his fingers and leans back in his seat.

“I won’t be able to study now because of those arseholes. Want to get a coffee?”

Taekwoon nods and stands up, waiting for Wonshik to fetch his bag from where he’d dropped it.

 

Wonshik is surprised by how busy the coffee shop is when they enter. Just about every downstairs table is taken and the line reaches the door.

“Taekwoonie!” Hakyeon cries when he sees the two of them enter.

Taekwoon and Wonshik go up to the counter instead of taking a seat.

“Can you work for like fifteen minutes?” Hakyeon asks before motioning to the guy currently making coffee. “Hyukkie is slow.”

“Hey,” the barrister protests, putting the lid on a coffee and handing it over.

“Please, Woon?”

Taekwoon lets out a tiny sigh and lets his fingers linger against Wonshik’s arm. Wonshik assumes it’s an apology and smiles back at him. Hakyeon notices the touch and frowns.

“You don’t mind, Wonshik?” Hakyeon asks.

“No, it’s fine.”

Taekwoon disappears out back for a second before reappearing with an apron on. The barrister who’s there moves over to the register and Hakyeon moves away.

“I’ll take half of my break then,” he says. “Come on, Wonshikkie, let’s find a table.”

They find a table near the window that’s just been vacated. Hakyeon swiftly cleans it and then they sit down.

“‘Hyukkie’?” Wonshik asks.

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon replies. “He’s been working here since the start of the year and is good at taking orders but we’re only just teaching him how to make coffee now. He’ll be an expert in no time.”

“Oh, so he’s a first year?”

“Nope, year twelve.”

“No way! He’s so tall.”

Wonshik glances over at the teen. He’s taller than Wonshik is but Wonshik can see a slight lankiness that would probably be grown out of in the next year, as well as a little bit of baby fat hanging around his jaw. No doubt that would be gone soon too.

Hakyeon chuckles. “I saw Hongbinnie yesterday, he looks a little better. A lot less stressed.”

Wonshik sighs. “I hadn’t had the chance to see him much this year, both of us are pretty busy with our own things. I didn’t even know he was working two jobs until this week. If I’d known he was struggling so much I would have gotten him to move in sooner.”

“Why didn’t you guys move in together when you first came to uni?”

“He got into uni first round of offers and had already set up his living arrangements before I’d even been accepted in.”

“Fair enough.”

There’s a pause in the conversation but then Hakyeon asks, “Is Hongbinnie going to quit one of his jobs?”

“I think he’s quitting the McDonald’s one at the end of this week. The hours are later and it’s further away than his other one now.”

“I’m glad.”

Hakyeon is about to begin on another topic when Wonshik cuts him off.

“Today at the library some guys were harassing Taekwoon,” he blurts.

Hakyeon sits up in his chair and sighs. “Group of four? One of them blond?”

“Yes.”

“Usual suspects I’m afraid. We went to high school with two of them. They used to bully Taekwoon all the time and one day the teachers found out and they were expelled.”

“He didn’t stand up for himself at all.”

“He never has. He used to just let them do what they wanted.”

“Used to?” Wonshik scoffs. Taekwoon had let them walk all over him _today_. “He should fight back.”

Hakyeon’s voice hardens. “Taekwoon would never hit anybody, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“I’m just saying that if someone’s intimidating him then he should stand up for himself.”

Hakyeon’s voice turns ice-cold. “I don’t think you know enough about Taekwoon’s life to be making assumptions about what he should and shouldn’t do. Especially since you don’t know his circumstances.”

Wonshik feels like he’s been slapped. He’d been having a perfectly normal conversation and now he was being lectured. Before he can open his mouth to defend himself against that accusation Hakyeon is standing up.

“I don’t think you should hang out with Taekwoon if you’re going to be saying things like that to him.”

“What the hell, Hakyeon? You’re not his mum, you don’t get to decide who he’s friends with.”

Wonshik also stands up.

“He’s probably just a play thing to you anyway. He’s interesting because he doesn’t talk so you want to get close to him and find out why. And then you’ll just ditch him.”

“Do you seriously think I would do that?”

“You wouldn’t be the first.”

People are looking at them now.

Hakyeon glances around the room and clears his voice. “I think you should leave.”

Wonshik is about to tell Hakyeon what he can go do – it involves shoving something where the sun don’t shine – but changes his mind. Instead he grabs his backpack and leaves.

He doesn’t even glance at Taekwoon as he exists the shop, too annoyed at Hakyeon to even remember that he was there to have coffee with Taekwoon. He seethes the entire walk home.

After a brutal fight with the lock on his front door Wonshik throws himself down on the couch. He can’t figure out what just happened. Why was Hakyeon angry that Wonshik had told Taekwoon to defend himself? _What_ circumstances? Who had used him? How did any of this warrant to being told to not hang out with Taekwoon?

Wonshik’s own upbringing had taught him that waiting for someone else to save you wasn’t going to get you anywhere, you needed to stand up for yourself and fight back. Stand up _to_ your friends and teachers if they’re bullies, stand up _for_ your siblings and anyone who needs your help if you can, and don’t take shit from anybody, even your parents. Even if you’re in a relationship with someone, they can’t tell you what to do or put you down.

…Wait. Weren’t Hakyeon and Taekwoon going out? He’d thought so at first but then written it off. Maybe they _were_ a couple. That would explain Hakyeon’s behaviour today. Had Wonshik gotten too involved? Was Hakyeon jealous that they were hanging out when he wasn’t around?

 _That explains a lot_ , Wonshik thinks. He doesn’t want to come between Hakyeon and Taekwoon, he’ll back off and give them space. If he really is becoming a wedge in their relationship he just won’t go near either of them.

 

A couple of hours later Hongbin comes home from school. He takes one look at the backpack in the middle of the floor and then goes searching for Wonshik. It doesn’t take him long to find the other man.

“You’re missing your music class.”

“I don’t care.”

“Okay…” Hongbin says slowly, knowing how much Wonshik values those classes. “Do you want some dinner?”

“No.”

Hongbin purses his lips, worried about what could have caused Wonshik to be like this. For now he’ll let it go and make dinner before work, but if Wonshik is still sulking like this tomorrow...


	8. Lie After Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for some clarification, this chapter happens about three hours after chapter 7. Hongbin cooks dinner after talking to a sulking Wonshik, goes to work and gets a phone call from Hakyeon when he’s on break.

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 5: Wednesday

For the rest of his shift Hakyeon makes sure that he’s not put in a situation where he’s alone with only Taekwoon and Sanghyuk just so that Taekwoon can’t ask about where Wonshik went. He feels horrible for practically chasing Wonshik away. He feels horrible about a lot of things he’d said, especially the plaything comment because he _really_ didn’t mean that. He just didn’t want Taekwoon to get hurt again.

In their first year at university Taekwoon’s unusual silence had drawn some attention. It wasn’t something new to them but what was new were the ways people tried to approach him to find out why he didn’t speak. Either they would flat out flirt with Taekwoon to get close with him that way, or they would become friends with Hakyeon and then try to get in with Taekwoon. Eventually they’d shut themselves off except for a few people who were really only friends with Hakyeon and tolerated Taekwoon’s presence.

Then one day a girl, Mai, casually had a chat with Taekwoon during a tutorial. It had been a normal chat about university and her subjects but she’d interacted with Taekwoon like his silence was nothing out of the ordinary. Hakyeon had eagerly encouraged Taekwoon to become friends with her, so he’d started using gestures with her to give her some idea as to what he was thinking during their one-sided conversations.

Eventually she’d gotten bored and admitted she just wanted to know why he was so quiet, and Hakyeon had convinced himself that Taekwoon had been extremely upset over it. So now, with Wonshik, Hakyeon was thinking that the same thing was going to happen. He just wanted to protect his friend, even if it meant being the bad guy a little.

When Taekwoon finally gets a chance to ask it’s on their way home.

“Where did Wonshik go earlier?”

After Wonshik had left Taekwoon had told Sanghyuk to go home and worked the rest of the night. He’d been a little hurt that Wonshik hadn’t even said goodbye, but maybe it had been important and Taekwoon could be understanding about that.

Hakyeon on the other hand had spent the whole night thinking of an excuse. So far he hadn’t come up with a good one.

“He got a phone call from Hongbinnie and had to go home.”

 _What’s a little lie on top of sabotaging their friendship_ , Hakyeon cries to himself as they walk.

“I thought Hongbin was in class at that time.”

“I don’t know, Wonshik didn’t tell me. He left pretty fast.”

_That’s right, dig yourself a deeper hole._

Taekwoon frowns. “I hope they’re alright. Should we call?”’

Hakyeon forces a laugh. “I’m sure they’re fine. I’ll call Hongbinnie in the morning and see how they’re doing.”

_You don’t deserve to be Taekwoon’s friend, you traitor._

By the time they get home Hakyeon hates himself a little, but that doesn’t stop him from calling Hongbin while Taekwoon showers.

“What’s up, Hakyeon?” Hongbin answers, sounding surprised.

“Are you at work?”

“Yep, I’m on my break though.”

“Which job?”

“McDonald’s, obviously. Did you need something?”

“I’m going to ask you to do something that you might not agree to.”

“Oh god, what have you done? You didn’t kill somebody, did you?”

Hakyeon doesn’t appreciate the attempt at humour. “If Taekwoon asks, you called Wonshik home at around three today.”

“I was in class at –”

“You skipped class and called Wonshik home,” Hakyeon interrupts.

“…Alright. Are you going to tell me why I’m agreeing to this?”

“Wonshik and I had a fight today and he left the shop when he was supposed to wait for Taekwoon.”

Hongbin had known Hakyeon for more than a year and a half now, he knew where this was going. “And you told him that I called Wonshik? Why didn’t you just admit that you fought?”

“I didn’t want him to think I was meddling.”

“ _Were_ you meddling?”

“…No.”

“God damn it, Hakyeon,” Hongbin cries. “Why can’t you just let him make his own choices and mistakes?!”

“Wonshik told Taekwoon to hit someone,” Hakyeon says suddenly, trying to justify his actions a little.

Hongbin knows what that means, being privy to Taekwoon’s past.

Hakyeon continues, “I told him that he didn’t know Taekwoon’s circumstances so he shouldn’t just tell Taekwoon how he should act.”

“Well you don’t know _Wonshik’s_ circumstances so you should keep your mouth shut,” Hongbin snaps more harshly than he intended.

“What?”

“Did you have to mess shit up?” Hongbin groans, pretending he didn’t hear. “I won’t tell Taekwoon that you and Wonshik fought, but you should probably apologise to Wonshik.”

“I said some things to Wonshik that I didn’t mean, but I won’t forgive him for the hitting thing.”

“It isn’t like he _knows_ , Hakyeon,” Hongbin grumbles, holding back a lot more words that aren’t very nice in defence of Wonshik.

Hakyeon doesn’t give an answer, distracted by the shower shutting off.

“I know Wonshik is your friend and you wouldn’t think anything bad of him, you wouldn’t even be friends if he wasn’t a good guy, but I’m just looking out for Taekwoon.”

Hongbin is annoyed but he doesn’t think it’s his place to try and resolve their fight. Nor is it his place to tell Hakyeon about Wonshik’s past. The fight was about Taekwoon so if Taekwoon asks then Hongbin will probably tell him.

“So you’re not going to apologise?”

“No,” Hakyeon answer simply. “Please tell Taekwoon that you called Wonshik home.”

“Fine.”

_But if he asks directly I’ll tell him the truth._

“Taekwoon is done in the bathroom so I have to go. Talk to you later, Hongbinnie.”

“Okay then, bye, I guess.”

Hakyeon hangs up and turns to smile at Taekwoon.

“Who was that?” Taekwoon asks, drying his hair with the towel.

“Hongbinnie. He says they’re okay. Wonshik’s parents dropped over or something like that.”

_You’re turning into a compulsive liar, stop it._

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Yeah…”

“I’ve got an assignment to do. Do you want something to eat?”

They rarely got to eat dinner at dinner time if they worked that night. Normally Taekwoon would cook something during the day and then just reheat it when they got home.

“Nah, I think I’ll just go to bed,” Hakyeon says, pulling himself off the couch.

“Okay then, ‘night.”


	9. Tell Me Why

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 6: Tuesday+Wednesday

When Wonshik enters the library on Tuesday morning he doesn’t expect to see Taekwoon. Wonshik doesn’t normally come to the library on a Tuesday but he wants to finish something before his politics tutorial. He knows that Taekwoon works all afternoon on Tuesdays, so he really didn’t think Taekwoon would be there.

But he is there, sitting at the same table he had been at last time. A smile stretches across his face when he sees Wonshik with his bulging bag and notebook in hand.

With a small clench of his heart Wonshik realises that this is the first time he’s seen Taekwoon with a full out smile. Pushing down his desire to go over, Wonshik turns his back on the older man like he was a stranger and sits down at a table that is already uncomfortably full. He is determined not to come between Hakyeon and Taekwoon, and if that meant staying away from Taekwoon then so be it.

 

The first thing Taekwoon feels is confusion. Wonshik had seen him right? Why didn’t he come over? Has Taekwoon done something to make him angry? He hasn’t seen Wonshik since last Wednesday, what could he have done since then?

The second thing Taekwoon feels is hurt. Just the simple hurt that comes from rejection. He watches Wonshik sit down and take out his laptop. After several minutes of staring at Wonshik, he finally gets back to work.

He thought they were friends, or at least on the verge of becoming friends. Did Wonshik not think so? Was he too burdensome to be around? Had Wonshik gotten sick of the silence? Just _why_?

 

Taekwoon figured that with the way things were going, Wonshik wouldn’t be in the library on Wednesday. He’s right. Wonshik chooses to study at home between classes, barely getting anything done and cursing himself for being a coward.

It still hurts to think that he’s been rejected in some way, but Taekwoon just wants to know why. More than anything. When Taekwoon tried to talk to Hakyeon about it Tuesday night after work, Hakyeon had suggested that he wait patiently. He also thought it was a bad idea to ask Hongbin about it when Taekwoon had suggested that.

Taekwoon decides that asking Hongbin is exactly what he’ll do.

 

“Taekwoon!” Hongbin greets.

Taekwoon had texted Hongbin and told him to meet him at the lake park near the university. It was largely abandoned during the day, which was important to Taekwoon. It was also somewhere Hakyeon never went because he thought the swans were scary.

“What did you want to talk about?” Hongbin asks when the elder gets closer.

“Is something wrong with Wonshik?”

Hongbin looks surprised. By his straightforwardness? Or because there _is_ something wrong?

“What makes you think there’s something wrong with Wonshik?”

To be honest Wonshik is sulking still. Hongbin had read a few angry raps in Wonshik’s notebook and one song that was just incredibly depressing.

“He suddenly started ignoring me.”

Hongbin tries to think of an answer that holds up his promise with Hakyeon but doesn’t misrepresent Wonshik.

Apparently he’s too slow though because Taekwoon adds, “Did something happen the other day when his parents were over?”

“His parents were over?” Hongbin repeats in confusion.

“Hakyeon said that –”

Taekwoon’s eyes snap closed with the realisation and he takes a deep breath before speaking. “Tell me honestly, Hongbin. Did you call Wonshik last Wednesday?”

Hongbin’s face is apologetic but Taekwoon doesn’t see it. “I didn’t.”

Taekwoon groans and pulls his fingers through his hair, looking over at the younger man. “Then why did Hakyeon tell me you did?”

“He and Wonshik… had a bit of a fight.”

“What about?”

Hongbin shrugs. “I don’t think I should be the one to tell you.”

 “Why would Wonshik avoid _me_ if he fought with Hakyeon?”

“I don’t know,” Hongbin says truthfully. He knew that Hakyeon hadn’t told him the whole story. He could probably figure out why Wonshik was choosing to avoid Taekwoon though.

“Hakyeon was probably worried about you getting too close to Wonshik.”

Taekwoon feels a little bit betrayed. He’d done his best to support Hakyeon in his many – failed – relationships, couldn’t Hakyeon do the same from him? Sure, he owed so much to Hakyeon, but he’d like to think Hakyeon trusted him with his own relationships. Obviously not.

“Agh,” Taekwoon grumbles. “Now I have to talk to Hakyeon about this too.”

They wander around the lake in silence for a little while before sitting down on a bench.

“You really can’t tell me what they fought about?”

Hongbin considers it. If he tells Taekwoon he’ll be butting in but everything will get resolved a whole lot faster. Will telling Taekwoon cause a fight between him and Hakyeon? Probably. Actually they would probably end up having a fight about this in the future anyway when Taekwoon finds out about the lies Hakyeon has told.

Trying to see all the outcomes makes his head hurt so Hongbin just goes for it. “Apparently Wonshik told you to hit someone.”

Taekwoon blinks at Hongbin. “So?”

“ _That’s_ what the fight was about.”

“Oh.”

“ _Oh_?!” Hongbin cries in disbelief. “You’re kidding! We all know how much you hate just the idea of hitting people!”

He does hate it. The thought of hitting someone just to protect himself makes him feel sick, especially if he’s not being physically hurt.

“I was kind of expecting it from Wonshik, actually,” Taekwoon admits. “I knew when he saw that situation that that’s how he’d respond.”

“How did you know that?” Hongbin asks. He doubts Wonshik simply told Taekwoon his childhood and beliefs randomly.

“Wonshik let me read his notebook. A recurring theme was standing up for yourself even if it came to violence.”

“He let you read his notebook?” Taekwoon nods. “He doesn’t let _anybody_ read that! It took me years to get even a peak!”

Taekwoon shrugs since he has no explanation. He’d asked and Wonshik had given.

“Ugh, I may as well just tell you everything I know about the fight since this is how you’ve reacted to it.”

“What more was there?”

“For it to make sense I need to tell you about Wonshik. It’s not really my place to tell you about his experiences but I don’t think he’ll care, given the situation.”

“His experiences?”

Hongbin ignores the question since he’s going to get there in a second anyway. “From what I know, during the fight after hearing that Wonshik had told you to hit someone, Hakyeon chewed Wonshik out and told him that he doesn’t know your circumstances and therefore shouldn’t tell you what to do in a situation like that. The thing is that when Wonshik was a kid and even in his early teens his dad used to beat him and his sister, pretty badly too. His parents divorced and they lived just with their dad. Their mum didn’t even know they were getting abused until Wonshik completely snapped one day when his sister was getting beaten and beat the shit out of his dad.”

Taekwoon isn’t sure how to respond except to ask, “What happened to his dad?”

“He’s in prison. Wonshik and his sister moved in with their mum and step-dad after that.”

“Oh.”

“Wonshik doesn’t put up with people that try to intimidate others, it’s as simple as that.”

“And Hakyeon told him –”

“Pretty much,” Hongbin cuts him off. “I was so annoyed when I heard that.”

 _Because Wonshik stood up for me before anybody else ever did_ , he adds silently.

 

They drop into silence then, both lost in their own thoughts. Taekwoon is thinking about what Wonshik had been through and what Hakyeon had said to him. He’s annoyed at his friend.

“What should I say to Hakyeon?” he asks Hongbin.

“Maybe you should just talk to him about the things he’s done that you think were unwarranted.”

Taekwoon nods.

“You could also yell at him, he won’t expect that.”

“Mmm.”


	10. Only Three Weeks?

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 6: Wednesday

 “I like Wonshik!” Taekwoon practically screams at Hakyeon when he gets home, slamming the door as he enters.

Hakyeon almost falls off his seat at the table, eyes wide at Taekwoon’s sudden appearance and volume. He can tell that Taekwoon has found out about the fight and the lies somehow. It was probably Hongbin, not that he’ll hold it against him, it had been a selfish request anyway.

“I know,” Hakyeon says calmly.

“Why do you have to ruin it then?! I-I’ve never liked someone before, why can’t you just support me?”

Hakyeon is about to deny trying to ruin anything but ends up asking, “What about Mai?”

“I thought _you_ liked Mai and wanted to be friends with her. _That’s_ why I tried to be friends with her when you told me to be.”

“Really? I thought you were heartbroken when she turned out to be a bitch.”

“I wasn’t. I was kind of glad because she really didn’t know when to shut up and she’d just talk _at_ me for the entire class.”

Hakyeon doesn’t really have anything to say to that, since he’d sort of liked Mai’s chatterbox tendencies, and stays silent. Taekwoon however remembers that he’d come here to prove a point, he does turn down the volume though.

“You don’t have any right to tell people to stay away from me. If I want to be friends with someone and they’re willing to put up with me, then it’s up to us to have a relationship that works. Wonshik is the first person in forever that doesn’t give a crap that I can’t speak around a lot of people, and he doesn’t get freaked out when I touch his arm a lot.”

Taekwoon thinks that may be the most he’s ever said at once. Hakyeon is thinking the same thing, trying to process the words and come up with an answer.

“I was worried that maybe you guys were going to get into something too fast and that you were going to get hurt.”

“What does that mean?”

Hakyeon sighs. “You’ve only known Wonshik for three weeks.”

 _That doesn’t sound right_ , Taekwoon frowns to himself. It can’t be only three weeks, it has to be longer. He feels like he’s known Wonshik for ages. Three weeks can’t be right… He _did_ see Wonshik in the library for a long, _long_ while, but he couldn’t say he knew Wonshik during that time. Did Wonshik feel the same way?

Hakyeon interrupts Taekwoon’s pondering. “It’s only been three weeks since you officially met each other and you’ve only seen him a few times since then and you’re already doing the arm touching thing with him. It took you a year to do that with me and two to do it with your foster mum, Woonie! You don’t even do that with Jaewhan and you’ve known him for three years now.”

“I was a little kid back then, Hakyeon! I didn’t know how to communicate!”

Hakyeon had never willingly brought up the abuse Taekwoon had suffered at the hands of his birth parents before. He’d known everything from the very beginning. Known that they’d beaten him every time he’d opened his mouth to make a sound from the time he was a baby. Known that when he was three Taekwoon had been taken away from his parents and put into foster care after a hospital had treated him a number of times, gotten suspicious and reported the abuse.

Hakyeon’s parents had told him that Taekwoon was put into kindergarten because adults scared him and maybe being around kids his own age would get him speaking. They hadn’t skimped out on the details and by the time he was five Hakyeon had known Taekwoon’s whole situation.

Taekwoon knew that Hakyeon knew everything there was to know about him, and he didn’t mind. It was up to Hakyeon to inform their friends of why he didn’t speak when he felt they were close enough to know. It was up to Hakyeon to talk to his teachers and lecturers and tutors over the years and explain why Taekwoon wouldn’t be participating in class discussions and presentations. It was up to Hakyeon to protect him from bullies, either in the form of other kids or teachers or parents. Taekwoon wouldn’t let it all be up to Hakyeon anymore. He was no longer a little kid that needed to be protected all the time.

Taekwoon is trying to sort the thoughts in his head when he happens to glance over at Hakyeon and see that the other is crying silently. Hakyeon is staring, waiting for Taekwoon to continue his scolding with tears on his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” Taekwoon mutters, holding back his own tears. He’d only seen Hakyeon cry a few times before, but this time it was his fault.

Hakyeon shakes his head and hastily wipes away the tears he didn’t know were there. “Me too. I didn’t mean to get involved.”

They both take a minute to calm down before Taekwoon says. “I want you to apologise to Wonshik.”

“But he told you –”

“I know,” Taekwoon interrupts. “But I also know his side of it now. I wasn’t even upset when he told me to do that and it isn’t like he knows what he did to deserve this.”

“Hongbin mentioned something like that too,” Hakyeon pouts.

“I’ll ask Wonshik if I can tell you.”

“ _You’ll_ ask him?”

Taekwoon knows what the real question is.

“I want to talk to Wonshik. I want to talk about a lot of things with Wonshik.”

“Okay,” Hakyeon nods slowly. “I’ll apologise to Wonshik.”

Taekwoon sits down on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. He knows how much Hakyeon hates it but he also knows that he’ll be allowed to get away with it today. Hakyeon joins him on the couch and waits.

“What?” Taekwoon asks after almost a minute of being stared at.

“I thought you were going to be angrier at me, to be honest.”

Taekwoon shifts down in his spot, embarrassed. “You were doing what you thought was best for me. Just don’t interfere in my relationships again.”

“Deal,” Hakyeon sighs. “I had extreme guilt the whole time anyway.”

They’re silent for a little but Taekwoon can sense Hakyeon’s question.

“Tomorrow.”

“What?” Hakyeon asks, surprised.

“I’ll try talk to Wonshik tomorrow. He completely ignored me the other day at the library though so I don’t know how that will go.”

“Sorry…” Hakyeon mutters. “How will you get him to talk to you if he’s avoiding you?”

“I don’t think it’ll take much.”


	11. Does It Matter

Year 2: Semester 2: Week 6: Thursday

Wonshik wakes up in a foul mood on Thursday morning. The realisation that he’s not sick this Thursday only improves his mood marginally. What finally convinces Wonshik to get out of bed and get ready for class is the knowledge that today’s Communications tutorial is going to explain all of the shit he didn’t understand at yesterday’s lecture.

“Good morning,” Hongbin greets from the table where he’s devouring toast.

“‘Morning,” Wonshik grumbles, pouring some cereal. “You gonna be working late again tonight?”

“Nope, remember I quit that job?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Honestly he’d forgotten. He’d been more focussed on his own issues – Taekwoon and Hakyeon – for the last week. That probably meant he’d been a shitty friend to Hongbin.

They eat together, watching cartoons on the television as they do.

“What building is your French class in?” Hongbin asks without warning.

“The J building, why?”

“Just wondering, I thought most language classes were in T building. I don’t think I’ve ever been in J.”

“It’s a stupid building so consider yourself lucky.”

Wonshik doesn’t think anything of the conversation and mindlessly crunches on the cereal.

“So,” Hongbin says slowly, they’re trying to kill some time so that they’re not super early to class. “Why are you avoiding Taekwoon?”

Wonshik knows there isn’t any point in lying to Hongbin, he was Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s friend too.

“Hakyeon and I had a fight.”

“I know _that_ , anything else?” Hongbin prompts. “I mean, you’re avoiding _Taekwoon_ , not Hakyeon.”

Wonshik wonders who Hongbin has been in cahoots with. It surely wasn’t Hakyeon because it was Hakyeon’s fault. Would Taekwoon go to Hongbin about this?

Wonshik figures that maybe talking to Hongbin will make him feel better about it or give him some insight. After all, Hongbin is like a double agent right now.

“I don’t want to get between Hakyeon and Taekwoon?” Wonshik says but it sounds more like a question.

“Why would you be getting between them?” Hongbin asks, brows drawn.

“Because they’re a couple?”

Hongbin full out laughs. “Oh boy, you are going to be enlightened today, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Wonshik asks, genuinely lost in the conversation.

“Hakyeon and Taekwoon aren’t a couple, you idiot. You’re not getting between them.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.”

“Oh.”

“You can have as many dirty thoughts about Taekwoon as you want.”

Wonshik denies the comment but his cheeks practically dob him in. He remembers how strongly he’d claimed he was straight all through high school, but Hongbin had never believed him.

“Are you going to tell me anything else important? Like why Hakyeon went crazy the other day?” Wonshik questions.

“Nope, I’m sure someone will tell you.

“Ugh, whatever,” Wonshik groans, not sure how he’s feeling about the whole conversation. “Let’s just leave.”

They walk to the university together before heading in opposite directions. Two hours of Communications doesn’t really help with the things Wonshik didn’t understand. In fact it just raises more questions and confusion. Not to mention that he’d had trouble concentrating. If they weren’t a couple why had Hakyeon been so protective? With a groan Wonshik packs up his laptop and goes for an early lunch.

 

As Wonshik exits the room his French class is in that afternoon he freezes in the doorway, forcing other students to filter around him with annoyed tutting. There, leaning casually against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, is Taekwoon.

The first thing Wonshik thinks to do is run away, a week of telling himself to avoid Taekwoon kicking in. He hitches his bag up higher on his back and starts to follow his classmates.

“Wonshik.”

Taekwoon’s voice is soft but clear and it has Wonshik’s heart clenching. He’s glad he didn’t have to wait longer to hear it. In that moment Wonshik realises who Hongbin had been talking about this morning when he’d said ‘someone’ would tell him. Taekwoon had come to him, to Wonshik, to talk. How did Taekwoon know where his class was?

“Let’s go get coffee,” Taekwoon suggests.

This time when the older man smiles at him, Wonshik smiles back. “Okay.”

They don’t go directly to the coffee shop like a few other people do. Instead they take a longer route along a largely unused path so they can talk. While they didn’t fight with each other, they still have a lot of things to explain.

Taekwoon goes first, clarifying why Hakyeon had gotten so worked up over Wonshik telling him to hit someone. He then talks about his birth parents and explains that for the most part his silence isn’t intentional, sometimes the words just don’t come.

“Hongbin told me about your father,” Taekwoon says, tone apologetic.

Wonshik smiles. “It’s okay, it’s not a huge secret. I kind of feel like if I was ashamed of admitting to it I would be letting him win somehow. Besides, you would have found out eventually anyway.”

Taekwoon nods, letting their arms brush as they walk. “Can I tell Hakyeon so he knows?”

“Sure. I’ll just tell Hongbin to explain it to him.”

They’ve reached the coffee shop now. As they enter and find a table Wonshik hastily types out a text to Hongbin and sends it. It’s weird, it’s like he’s making up with Hakyeon through Taekwoon, and Hongbin too thanks to his involvement on Taekwoon’s side apparently.

Once they’re seated Wonshik folds his hands on the table and explains his misinterpretation of Hakyeon getting involved, that they’d been a couple. Taekwoon denies it blatantly. Really this whole thing had just been misunderstandings, on both sides.

“You know,” Wonshik says after a brief pause, “our views are pretty different, in terms of what standing up for yourself is.”

Taekwoon nods. Wonshik can see that now, surrounded by people, Taekwoon is anxious.

“But I don’t think that staying silent makes you weak. I think that staying silent says a lot and makes a statement sometimes.”

Taekwoon glances around before leaning across the table a little. “I don’t think having such different views on this will get in the way of us,” he motions between them before letting his hands drop onto the table.

“Are we an ‘us’ now?” Wonshik asks, a little surprised.

“I-I want to be,” Taekwoon says, it comes out a little more eager and a lot louder than he’d have liked. He sends another nervous glance around the room but nobody looks at him. He feels like they are anyway.

Wonshik doesn’t think Taekwoon even noticed that he’d started touching the younger man’s hands. He doesn’t point it out, figuring that it would just make Taekwoon more uncomfortable.

“I want to be too,” Wonshik admits.

“We’ve only known each other for three weeks,” Taekwoon states softly. His fingers are gently running over the back of Wonshik’s hands, which are still folded on the table. He’s got to be aware of it now.

“Does that matter?” Wonshik asks, shifting his gaze from their hands to Taekwoon’s eyes.

Taekwoon shakes his head a little. “No,” he whispers.

“Good.”

Wonshik opens up his hands and Taekwoon slides his own into them and gives a squeeze. Wonshik isn’t quite sure he knows exactly what their relationship is but it doesn’t matter, as long as Taekwoon is here with him.

“So has everybody made up now?” a new voice questions. Taekwoon and Wonshik rip their hands away from each other and hide them in their laps, cheeks blazing.

Hongbin grins, having seen everything, and joins them at the table. Hakyeon does the same, still avoiding making eye contact with Wonshik. Hongbin had told him everything. He really had been in the wrong with absolutely everything from the start.

“Oh, it was you,” Wonshik nods at the sudden clarity, pointing to Hongbin.

“It was me what?” Hongbin asks.

“You told Taekwoon where to ambush me.”

Hongbin flashes his dimples at his friend again. “Yep. He called me this morning and asked where your last class of the day was but I couldn’t remember seeing any French classes in the T building.”

After a few seconds of silence Taekwoon’s elbow flashes out and gets Hakyeon in the ribs.

“Ow,” the eldest mutters before finally meeting Wonshik’s gaze. “Sorry, Wonshikkie, for being an idiot.”

“You weren’t being an idiot,” Wonshik replies. “I’m sorry too.”

They spend several more minutes exchanging ‘sorry’s and ‘no it was my fault’s before Hongbin chuckles darkly and nudges Hakyeon.

“Wonshik thought you and Taekwoon were going out until this morning!”

“What?!” Hakyeon cries.

Wonshik nods. “I seriously thought you were his jealous boyfriend or something like that,” he says.

“I don’t like Taekwoon!” Hakyeon growls. “I like someone else.”

“Oooh, who?” Hongbin asks.

“None of your business!”

The group goes back to chatting, mostly complaining about assignments, and Hakyeon takes his chance to glance over at the counter. Thanks to a lull in customers he can clearly see Sanghyuk giving the counter a quick wipe over. The youngster does a quick sweep of the shop to spot any empty cups and happens to see Hakyeon. He flashes a grin at the older man and Hakyeon feels his own face light up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading~  
> If you enjoyed this story please check out part 2 as well (^_^)


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